LAS VEGAS — Five years after they first caught a significant glimpse of each other, Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya find themselves in the center of a whirlwind; caught in a moment none of them ever dreamed then would happen.
In 2003, boxing?s Golden Boy was promoting a match between Mexican gladiator Marco Antonio Barrera against Pacquiao and watched as the Filipino ring icon relentlessly pummeled the ?Baby-faced Assassin? into an 11th round submission.
Even then, watching the fighter from General Santos City unload voluminous power punches with blinding speed, De La Hoya hardly had any inkling he would face that very same person in the ring someday.
?I never thought that this fight would happen,? said De La Hoya.
But it will.
On December 6, boxing?s undisputed box office king faces the pound-for-pound champion of the world at around 9 a.m. local time (1 p.m. Saturday in Manila) in an aptly-titled card as far as both boxers as are concerned.
?That?s why it?s called the Dream Match,? Pacquiao told journalists at the end of a press conference staged Wednesday at the Hollywood Theater of the MGM Grand, which will host the bout at its Garden Arena.
Seated at the other end of the stage and swarmed by journalists and bursting flashbulbs, De La Hoya, almost as if on cue, uttered the very same line.
?That?s why it?s called the Dream Match.?
It could be, indeed, the kind of fight fans can only dream of. Both camps have not only predicted knockouts, but the kind of phone-booth brawl the intriguing matchup conjures will make De La Hoya upset if he wins by a mere decision.
?I would be disappointed if I don?t stop him because this type of fight calls for a knockout,? De La Hoya said. ?This type of fight, you get two fighters who are going to fight. If Manny Pacquaio hits me with a good shot, hey, let?s fight. I?m going to bite into my mouthpiece and let?s fight.?
Although Pacman trainer Freddie Roach and promoter Bob Arum, chief executive officer of Top Rank, have both boldly blurted out the word knockout, Pacquiao predictably stayed true to form, shying away from making promises about the outcome of the match.
?I just want to give a good fight and do my best for the honor of my country,? Pacquiao said.
As a gesture of goodwill, in an afternoon when De La Hoya paraded Mexico?s best world champions past and present with him on the stage to show that — contrary to reports — Mexico supports him and not his opponent, Pacquiao even said he was ditching the term ?Mexicutioner.?
?It?s nothing personal,? he said of his current string of devastating victories over fighters of Latino lineage. ?It just so happens that a lot of Mexican fighters are in my division. I don?t want to be called a ?Mexicutioner.??
Arum, though, downplayed the show of support by the Mexican greats. Not only did De La Hoya seem to knee-jerk a publicity stunt to negate the show of support vowed by Mexico?s greatest boxing warrior, Julio Cesar Chavez, for Pacquiao, but the Top Rank chief also belittled the cast that was present as ?a little long in the tooth.?
Moreover, two of the 11 fighters De La Hoya brought with him had previously lost to Pacquiao: Juan Manuel Marquez and Oscar Larios.
The showdown between boxing?s biggest stars at present was previously overshadowed by critics who called it a mismatch. But De La Hoya thinks Pacquiao has what it takes to pull this match as far away as possible from a mere schoolyard bullying.
?Manny Pacquiao can handle the weight gain because of his power and his speed,? De La Hoya said. ?He?s probably the fastest fighter out there. A Manny Pacquiao who?s going to jump up 10 pounds, 20 pounds or 30 pounds is still a fast Manny Pacquiao.
And just to underscore his point, De La Hoya said he did not enter the Big Bear training facility to learn how to beat up on a smaller foe.
?I prepared for King Kong,? said the Golden Boy. ?We don?t need trash-talking. My motivation is his speed, skill, power and relentlessness. That?s what drives me to the gym?
Both fighters seemed headed for a trouble-free weigh-in on Friday. De La Hoya reportedly is just 143.8 lbs now while Pacquiao allegedly tipped the scales at 145.
NOTES: The other fighters Oscar De La Hoya paraded were Israel Vasquez, Rafael Marquez, Gato Gonzalez, Pipino Cuevas, Daniel Zaragoza, Chango Carmona, Humberto ?Chiquita? Gonzalez, Carlos Zarate and Ruben ?Rockabye? Olivarez? Bob Arum not only mocked the roster as being old, he also compared it to losing presidential candidate John McCain, who the Top Rank chief said was a solid choice if not for the fact that he was ?A little long in the tooth and boring?? Naturally, Arum likened Manny Pacquiao to US President-elect Barack Obama, saying both figures ?get the blood flowing?? Arum also showed a little knowledge of history as he attempte to trace the source of Filipino bravery: ?I remember that Filipinos always had a reputation for courage. After the fall of Bataan in World War II, US troops were forced to surrender. But the Filipinos? They never surrendered. They fought and fought until Gen Douglas McArthur could come back and make good on his promise. That fighting spirit is what Manny represents? De La Hoya, the businessman, spend a bulk of his speech during the press conference explaining how fight fans can get pay-per-view rebates by purchasing the fight?s sponsors? products. And to make sure everybody understood, he repeated his entire spiel in Spanish.
